Page 56 of Race or Ruin

He’d even been sweet enough to send one of his men to her house to check out her car and figure out why it wouldn’t start the other morning. Once he discovered it was a dead battery and replaced it, he’d brought it to Grandma Martha’s and dropped it off so she wouldn’t be stuck borrowing her grandmother’s car.

She was aware that most people feared her brother and avoided pissing him off. That man was Preacher, crime lord of Lost Junction. To her, he would always be Isaac, her fun and loving brother.

“You ladies ready to head inside?” Chris asked from the front seat. He, Lance and Darren had been asked to be their designated drivers, but she and Calliope knew it was the club’s way of keeping an eye on them and making sure nothing bad happened.

Chris and Lance stepped out of the SUV and opened their doors for them. Chris led the way inside and Lance brought up the rear. Chris quickly spotted Darren at a table against the far wall. He’d been in charge of picking up and escorting Lindsey and her friends to Big Dick’s for their girls’ night out.

When Calliope broached the subject of the ladies having a night out with Jackson, he had not been happy with the idea. He really didn’t like the idea that they’d chosen Big Dick’s to visit for their adventure. He had wanted to come along to personally keep an eye on them, but Calliope had put her foot down and told him ‘absolutely not.’ He’d said something to her about a possible threat from a rival club, but didn’t go into detail. It was club business. Seeking a compromise, they agreed to allow Chris, Darren and Lance to come along as protection. To Calliope, they were chaperones.

The room was packed and the music was loud. The band, a local favorite, already had the dance floor hopping. Bellamy was happy to see that the place wasn’t completely filled with smoke and asked about it. Chris had told them that Big Dick’s had been one of the last hold outs for allowing smoking in his establishment. The man said the county commission had finally gotten their way and he’d had no choice except to comply or they’d keep fining him until they bankrupted him. Chris said he thought that was Big Dick’s cover story because rumor had it that his wife had developed lung cancer that was believed to have been caused by secondhand smoke.

It took a little maneuvering, but they finally managed to weave their way through the crowd, arriving at their table.

“Hello, ladies!” Cami greeted the other women, who in turn greeted them back.

“Okay. Bellamy, you know Lindsey. These are her friends Cami and Jenna,” Calliope shouted above the music, pointing toward a gorgeous blonde woman first, then a very beautiful brunette.

“Cami owns a very successful financial planning business and Jenna works as a third-grade teacher at the same school as me,” Lindsey filled her in.

“Nice to meet you both.” Bellamy smiled and nodded her head in greeting.

“I love your dresses. I can’t decide which one I like more.” She took her seat at the high table, the chairs all having been pulled around the one side of the two joined tables so that they would have a view of the dance floor.

Cami was stunning with her curled, shoulder-length blonde hair and dark brown eyes. The woman was gorgeous. She’d been standing next to the table when they arrived, allowing them to get a good look at her outfit. She was dressed in a short, black knit dress with a dark denim jacket and cute black suede booties that looked like little cowboy boots. The woman was so stunning, Bellamy could picture her on the cover ofSports Illustratedin a bikini.

Jenna was a very beautiful woman as well. She had chestnut colored hair cut in a long bob with a few blonde highlights around her face. Her hazel eyes sparkled with laughter. She was dressed in a heather gray sweater dress with knee-high black leather boots.

Bellamy had gone the opposite way tonight. In her daily life, she was always wearing dresses and skirts in order to convey a classy atmosphere in her store. Tonight, she’d opted to wear boot cut blue jeans, an off-the-shoulder red sweater and what her brother referred to as shit kicker boots.

“Thanks. I hear you own a women’s store?” Jenna asked.

“Yes. You should come by and check it out. I have a gorgeous black choker that would look perfect with that dress,” Bellamy replied.

“I’ll have to swing by one day after I get off work.”

A waitress appeared out of nowhere, asking for their drink orders. As she sped off to fill their order, Chris, Darren and Lance took up positions around the group of women. They stood with their legs braced shoulder-width apart, arms crossed over the chests, and scowls guaranteed to discourage anyone from trying to approach them. It was like having a human wall surrounding them. Nothing and no one was getting anywhere near them. It was both comforting and annoying at the same time. She knew a lot of it had to do with Calliope being an old lady and pregnant and Lindsey being with Trick. The club protected their own.

The waitress quickly returned, placing their beverages on the table, a Sprite for Calliope. Bellamy picked up her glass to take a drink and glanced around the crowd. She didn’t see anyone she recognized, but that wasn’t surprising considering how many people were here. Her gaze skimmed over the people surrounding the bar, not immediately registering him at first. Her eyes quickly shifted back to a dark figure sitting in the shadows at the end of the bar. Smiling into her drink, she noted Jackson couldn’t help himself. He’d come to keep an eye on his wife despite her warning him to stay away.

They were on their second round of drinks when Jenna asked, “I’m sorry if it’s rude to ask, but how did you get the black eye?”

Damn. Bellamy thought she’d done a good job of covering the fading bruise on her face. She’d been staring at Bellamy’s eye for the last fifteen minutes. She was surprised it took her so long to ask. She inwardly groaned, wishing she could go one day without having to talk or think about Charlotte or Race.

“Calliope, you tell them. I’m done talking about it.”

While her friend filled the rest of them in on how her black eye came about, she thought about how Isaac had reacted to it. After he’d gotten a good look at her black eye, she had to quickly given him the details because he was nearly vibrating with the need to head over to the Sons of Redemption clubhouse and kick someone’s ass. After she told him it was a woman named Charlotte that had given it to her, he wasn’t satisfied until he got all the details from the time she showed up on Bellamy’s doorstep and ending with her punching the bitch in the face. The more of the story she revealed the more he was fighting to keep from laughing.

“I’m glad you were able to take care of it.” Her mouth had dropped open, shocked that he was proud of her and not chewing her out for being reckless. “What? Did you think I didn’t know about Mick training you in all things self-defense? Who do you think told him to do it?”

She’d been floored. She couldn’t believe her brother had actually instructed Mick to teach her how to take care of herself. The man was almost scary the way he knew things.

The waitress returned with their next round of drinks at the same time Chris and Lance were convincing two twenty-somethings to turn around before they could get any closer to the women.

“Damn it. I need to pee,” Calliope announced as she hopped down from her chair.

“Me, too.” Lindsey hopped down to go with her, Lance moving to follow them and Darren moving up from his position against the wall to take Lance’s place until they came back.

Bellamy was feeling good after a few drinks and really glad she’d agreed to come with Calliope for a girls’ night out. She loved the song the band was playing, it was hard to sit still in her seat. She did some people watching while Jenna and Cami talked to Chris and Lance. Darren was being his usual quiet, brooding self. Despite the fact he didn’t like to talk a lot, she doubted he had a shortage of women keeping his bed warm. She wondered what his story was.

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